Non-state armed groups

According to the USA, a plethora of non-State armed groups have been engaged in violent struggle in Pakistan since 2001, including:

* 313
* Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)
* Black December
* Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI)
* Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HuM)
* Harkat ul-Ansar
* Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)
* Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)
* Islami Inqilabi Mahaz
* Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
* Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)
* Jamiat ul-Mujahedin (JuM)
* Lashkar-I-Omar
* Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ)
* Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
* Mohajir Qami Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H)
* Muslim United Army
* Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM)
* National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty
* Sipah-e-Sahaba/Pakistan (SSP)
* Al-Arifeen
* Al-Badr
* Al-Barq
* Al-Fuqra
* Al-Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaeda
* Al-Madina
* Al-Mansoorain
* Al-Nawaz
* Al-Qaeda
* Al-Qanoon
* Al-Umar Mujahideen
* Al-Zulfikar

Various problems stemming from Pakistan's difficult founding have continued to plague the nation and foster terrorism within the country and worldwide. When the Soviet-Afghan war ended, many radical Muslims went to Pakistan, and some of them began to turn their attention to other fronts of jihad, including Bosnia, Chechnya and Indonesia. Under the tutelage of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), many Pakistani-based radical groups shifted their attention to the ongoing Kashmir conflict. After the Soviets left, Afghanistan fell into civil war, and the Pakistani government supported the Taliban in order to restore order and advance Pakistani ambitions in Afghanistan.

Prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Pakistan had been an operations center for Islamist terrorists . For instance, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, was captured in Islamabad. After September 11th, Pakistan became an important ally in the US-led War on Terror, particularly in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. After the Taliban regime was overthrown, approximately half of the Al-Qaeda members who remained free escaped to Pakistan. Several top leaders, including September 11th planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were captured in major Pakistani cities. The Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), much of which is under only loose government control, became a haven for Al-Qaeda leaders, possibly including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Many NWFP tribal leaders are sympathetic to Al-Qaeda. Pakistan faces numerous terrorist and insurgent threats.

The ongoing dispute in Kashmir, the suspected Al-Qaeda presence along the Afghan border, the insurgency in the province of Baluchistan, and the problem of sectarian violence against Pakistan's Shiite population all constitute major security challenges. Pakistani-based groups have also been associated with attacks deep inside India, including the Mumbai bombings of 1993 and 2006, and the attacks on Red Fort and the Indian Parliament. It is believed that several international terror incidents, including the July 2005 London subway bombings and the August 2006 plot to destroy multiple jetliners in flight, involved operatives who received training in Pakistan.

See also: "Kashmir Militant Extremists" backgrounder, Council on Foreign Relations, 9 July 2009 

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